ORLI_a05_t07_1

Prévia do material em texto

Scientific texts 
 
 
“New research has uncovered hotspots in the 
brain that, when stimulated, enhance 
sensations of pleasure. 
These hedonic hotspots differ from the 
“reward circuit” previously thought to be the 
basis of good feelings—a pathway now believed 
to mediate desire more than enjoyment. 
 
Higher brain regions receive information from 
these pleasure and reward circuits to 
consciously represent the warm glow we 
associate with joy. 
A decoupling of the brain systems that 
generate “wanting” and “liking” may underlie 
addictive behavior—a clue that may lead to 
new treatment.” 
 
Text and picture taken from: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=new-pleasure-circuit-
found-brain 
 
 
 
Sometimes their main aim is to inform no experts about scientific and technological 
news and discoveries. So, the language used is simple and direct. 
Read the text: 
 
 
“You are unique. This is one of the more obscure 
ways you're unique: An alternating current of 
different frequencies running through you causes 
a reaction that's noticeably different from 
anyone else's. Researchers from Dartmouth 
University are trying to put this difference to use 
by creating wearable electronics that respond to-
-and only to--their intended user. 
The design they're discussing is called "Amulet," a 
device "not unlike a watch" that could take a measurement like this, confirming the 
identity of a person. The device would use small electrodes to measure how the 
body's tissue reacts to the alternating current, which changes from person to person. 
It's a lock that's keyed into your biology; when it's set up with the device, it only 
unlocks it for you. 
After that, it gets even better: once that connection has been established, 
researchers say, that device can coordinate with others. Those devices would join 
the party through physical contact--maybe as easily as being slipped into a pocket, 
and staying securely rooted in your unique biology. 
A system like that could be used to better monitor a person's health; a single device 
attached directly to the body could monitor that person from anywhere, without 
causing wireless security concerns. But researchers are conceding that a better way 
 
 
of reliably interpreting the data coming from the sensor will still take time, and 
reliability is more than a little important for something like this.” 
Text and picture taken from http://www.popsci.com/ 
 
 
 
In order to disclosure Science, daily newspapers have a specific section in which the 
presented texts follow the EXPOSITORY pattern. 
 
Read the following text taken from the USA TODAY NEWSPAPER: 
 
2012-07-23 
Polar bears ancient and in decline 
By Dan Vergano, USA TODAY 
 
Polar bears split from ancient bears more than 4 million years ago, suggests ancient 
DNA and the gene maps of multiple bears. 
 
By Florian Schulz 
“The polar bear genome finding reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy 
of Sciences journal contradicts earlier gene studies finding much more recent times 
for the ancestral split, within 600,000 years, between polar bears and grizzly bears, 
which can still mate and produce viable offspring. 
What's more, the report suggests that polar bear numbers have been on the decline 
for at least 500,000 years, driven by climate fluctuation.” 
Taken from http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2012/07/polar-bears-ancient-
and-in-decline/1#.UCGhXqC4Xcc 
 
Scientific texts are not always written according to a fixed structure, but it’s in the 
introduction that the author “captures” the reader’s interest in the subject and, at 
the same time, leads his attention to the focus of the text. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Read the Introduction: 
Are Recent Extreme Weather Events Caused By Global Warming? NASA Scientist says 
Yes 
By Colin Lecher 
 
 
Drought at Lake Constance, Switzerland 
“It's not in doubt that global warming is 
changing the planet for the worse, but it's 
difficult to identify which, if any, specific 
weather events we can definitively link to it. 
But a new (and divisive) paper from senior 
NASA climate scientist James E. Hansen 
suggests that global warming is almost 
definitely the cause of heat waves and other 
events observed in the last decade.” (…) 
 
Once the introduction is concluded, the way information is presented will depend on 
the author’s goals. 
Nevertheless, explanations, exemplifications, comparisons, metaphors, designations 
and other resources are frequently used. 
 
 
 
Keep on reading the text: 
 
( … ) The paper, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of 
Sciences, says events like last year's heat wave in Texas and the 2003 heat wave in 
Europe were almost certainly caused by systematic climate change. “We can say with 
certainty”, says Hansen, “that these events wouldn't have happened without the 
effects of greenhouse gases”. 
The study examined extreme weather events from 1951 to 1980, then compared 
them with events between 1980 and 2011. They found that only two tenths of a 
percent of the world was hit by extreme weather in the former years, but that the 
number jumped to between 4 and 13 percent in the latter span. That, the scientists 
say, is enough to conclude that recent extreme weather events could only plausibly 
be caused by global warming. 
Some climate scientists, however, are critical of that analysis, saying the correlation 
between global warming and specific extreme weather events isn't great enough to 
warrant linking them.